The Gemini Club opened under new ownership last November. ( Staff file photo)

Though The Gemini Club has reopened under new management, litigation continues to follow the bar and music venue in Lake Oswego. 

The former LLC that ran the Gemini and caterer Rebecca Bell filed a lawsuit this week asking the Clackamas County Circuit Court to award them $700,000 in damages because the new club is allegedly violating the former LLC’s “Trademark and Trade Dress rights to the ownership and control over the brand ‘Gemini,’” stole Bell’s catering equipment and improperly evicted the former Gemini. 

“As a result of Defendants unauthorized use of Gemini’s trade dress and wordmark, Gemini has been damaged in an amount to be proven at trial. Defendants’ actions to operate a bar, venue and restaurant, in the exact same location as Gemini, with all of Gemini’s property, signage, marketing materials, is likely to cause consumer confusion and mistake and to deceive consumers as to the source and ownership of the Gemini brand, of which Gemini has a discernible interest in the ‘look and feel’ of its brand and has been severely injured by Defendants intentional theft thereof,” the lawsuit reads. 

Gemini, formerly titled The Same Old New Gemini, was closed for months last year as an ongoing dispute emerged between property owner Sean Casey and Josh Malm, who claims to be the business owner and was officially listed as the managing member of the former Gemini LLC. However, Casey’s legal representation argued that the transfer of ownership to Malm never took place while Malm said it was a verbal agreement. Malm filed a separate lawsuit against Casey last year seeking $100,000 in damages related to the alleged theft of his personal property. 

The location reopened in November under the management of billiards instructor Jacqueline Karol, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. 

“On information and belief, Casey also leased the Property to Karol to operate her own copycat Gemini, as described above, which further indicates collaboration and conspiracy to oust Gemini and Malm, steal its brand and goodwill in the community, and continue operating the bar and venue as if it just transferred ownership, which it never did,” the lawsuit reads.

Bell is described in the lawsuit as “an individual residing in Portland, Oregon and at all relevant times operated a catering company and sublet the kitchen space from Gemini and owns property which is currently being illegally held by Defendants.” 

Casey has never responded to requests for comment, while Karol did not immediately respond.